Gained 11 pounds in a week?!?!
DwerryMouse
Posts: 24 Member
So it's only my second week using mfp. The first week I lost 5 pounds, which I understand it water weight and I was looking forward to my second weigh in, hoping I'd see at least a pound disappear. Yet I got on the scales first thing this morning and apparently I've gained 11 pounds in the last week! I've been under my calories 6 days, I went over by 100 cals on the 7th day, yet was still under my weekly calories about about 250. What on earths goig on?
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Replies
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Did you have a lot of salt in your food yesterday? That can cause fluid retention.
Where are you in your cycle? Most of us retain water in the lead up to our period.5 -
Hi Lilly, thanks for your reply. I've checked my sodium and it was 792 yesterday, hugely under the generic target. I didn't add additional salt to anything I ate yesterday as my meals were porridge and chicken salad. I'm on cycle day 9 today. Im refusing to track my huge increase just yet. I wany to see if it reduces somewhat later today. If it doesn't I'll have to add it, but I don't understand what's going on. I've become obsessive about tracking everything exactly and I weigh everything so I know the portions I track are correct.0
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Have you done any hard exercise lately or are you anywhere close to your period or ovulation? Are you sure your scale is not defective or low on batteries?3
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Weight constantly fluctuates, 11 pounds is a lot but it can be from a multitude of things (below is not an exhaustive list).
- Sodium intake
- Alcohol
- Hydration
- Beginning new exercise routines or increasing intensity of exercise
- Changes to Macro nutrition
- Hormones (not just during or prior to your period, this can affect your weight throughout the month)
- Medication
Stick at what you're doing for at least 4 weeks, weight loss isn't linear (I've posted my weight chart below as an example of how much it can fluctuate - my period starts around the 24th March in this chart so you can see it peaks the week before). In the chart over 4 weeks, my lowest weight is 105.5kg and my highest is 109.1kg but if I look at the overall trend it's downward.
If you can disconnect your emotions from the scale, it can be helpful to weigh daily so that you can understand your body better and how it reacts to different things and how much it fluctuates day-to-day.
The important thing to remember is to gain 1 single pound of fat you would need to eat 3500 calories above your maintenance calories - which if you've been sticking to your calorie goal as you stated, you haven't been doing.
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I agree with the poster who recommended you check your scale. If you have some hand weights lying around, use at least 10 pounds to make sure it's accurate before stepping on. It could be a low battery or needs to be recalibrated. I also agree with menstrual cycles causing temporary gains and I love the chart shown by the woman above me that shows fluctuation, yet continues a downtrend.
**We had a man in our group who gained about the same amount as you in a week, and it did indeed turn out to be his scale. He ended up having to buy a new one. :-)1 -
Thanks guys, I've not exercised this week. I think I am close to ovulation - does that make a difference? I'm not a big drinker and haven't had any alcohol in the last two weeks. Ive just swapped the batteries and it's still the same so it must be right. I think I will try weighing daily for a bit to see if it does change much each day. I've no intention of giving up. It's surely common sense that if I stick with it over a long period of time the weight will everntually come off.3
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Yes ovulation can cause water retention.2
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I have digital scales at the moment but just ordered some good old fashioned ones so I can try those out when they arrive. I don't have any weights to test them out with unfortunately.0
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Hi guys I have to apologise for being really stupid! I reluctantly went to log my weight just now and realised my starting weight was a stone higher than I thought it was. So I've actually lost 2.5 pounds this week. I decided to start tracking calories when I realised I'd reached the heaviest I've ever been. I jumped on the scales this morning and panicked, forgetting my original weight and thought I'd gained when I'd actually lost because I never actually checked my tracker and was going off what turns out to my my incorrect memory! Thank you for your comments though, I've no doubt they will help me I. The future when my weight will no doubt fluctuate19
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It must be scales. Try to position your feet differently on the scale and check if weight changes; stand in the middle, on the sides and etc.0
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DwerryMouse wrote: »Hi guys I have to apologise for being really stupid! I reluctantly went to log my weight just now and realised my starting weight was a stone higher than I thought it was. So I've actually lost 2.5 pounds this week. I decided to start tracking calories when I realised I'd reached the heaviest I've ever been. I jumped on the scales this morning and panicked, forgetting my original weight and thought I'd gained when I'd actually lost because I never actually checked my tracker and was going off what turns out to my my incorrect memory! Thank you for your comments though, I've no doubt they will help me I. The future when my weight will no doubt fluctuate
I see you've figured it out - glad to see it. However, it's still going to fluctuate, so always be ready for that. It probably won't be 11 pounds worth, but you can easily see 4-5 pounds from day to day or during a given day. All the rest of the advice others gave still holds true in terms of what could happen.1 -
DwerryMouse wrote: »Hi guys I have to apologise for being really stupid! I reluctantly went to log my weight just now and realised my starting weight was a stone higher than I thought it was. So I've actually lost 2.5 pounds this week. I decided to start tracking calories when I realised I'd reached the heaviest I've ever been. I jumped on the scales this morning and panicked, forgetting my original weight and thought I'd gained when I'd actually lost because I never actually checked my tracker and was going off what turns out to my my incorrect memory! Thank you for your comments though, I've no doubt they will help me I. The future when my weight will no doubt fluctuate
Well that is good news
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I'm not the brightest button, doesn't bode well for my PhD1
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DwerryMouse wrote: »I'm not the brightest button, doesn't bode well for my PhD
Don't be so hard on yourself. We all make little mistakes, and in this case it turned out to be good news instead of bad! 0 -
DwerryMouse wrote: »So it's only my second week using mfp. The first week I lost 5 pounds, which I understand it water weight and I was looking forward to my second weigh in, hoping I'd see at least a pound disappear. Yet I got on the scales first thing this morning and apparently I've gained 11 pounds in the last week! I've been under my calories 6 days, I went over by 100 cals on the 7th day, yet was still under my weekly calories about about 250. What on earths goig on?
Weight loss is math. There are 3500 calories in a pound of fat so don't stress; in order for those 11lbs to be fat, you'd have to eat 38,500 calories OVER what you burned! Impossible.0 -
LOL glad you figured it out! 1
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